Kit Colburn back home with his father Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Austin Lewis/13WMAZ).

From Salecia Johnson, the 6-year-old Milledgeville girl who was handcuffed by police, and the search for Kit Colburn, the young Warner Robins boy who went missing, to the filming of Harrison Ford's "42," to Wilkinson County's Honey Boo Boo ascending to pop culture icon status and Saxby Chambliss sparking a national debate after an interview with Kenny Burgamy, here are the biggest local stories we covered in 2012.

Perhaps no news was more significant for the city of Macon and Bibb County, as a whole, than the passing of Consolidation on July 31. Citizens had debated the move since 1919, but at 11:02 p.m. on 13WMAZ, Macon Mayor Robert Reichert finally claimed victory for the effort, which goes into effect in January 2014.

Right before Christmas, a Crawford County teenager, who hoped to dress up like Santa for his classmates, was suspended from school because of a Facebook post he made about it. His story was later featured in Gawker, the Huffington Post and Fark.